Week #10 update

We're switching to weekly builds! You'll now be able to have the latest each week. Please keep in mind the weekly updates are compiled from the same code we're working on, so you can expect some odd behaviour and bugs. Weekly builds should give us much more feedback and speed up the process of removing bugs. The new build 170713 has been uploaded for all platforms.

Visual Studio 2017 was released on Wednesday so that meant all my time I could spend on Lode Runner was spent removing 2015 and installing 2017 - this took about 4 hours from start to finish. The XNA templates, even after modding the extension file, won't work correctly with 2017. It probably can be made to work but I don't really need it and couldn't be bothered. Instead, I just created a blank classic Windows desktop project and added the existing code.

A name in parenthesis and in bold is the finder of the bug/quirk. Thanks to all, I really do appreciate your time and support. Cheers!

Editor

Most of the original ~17K lines of VB.NET code was ported to C# using the excellent Instant C# by Tangible Software Solutions. I've been going through the editor's 2,960 lines of code (including blank lines and comments) line-by-line and making some tweaks here and there. Instant C# is an excellent tool but it does have the occasional brain fart. Take this bit of code when using the "undo" tool: while (!(undo.Count == 0)) instead of while (undo.Count != 0) which actually matches the VB code.

  • code clean-up;
  • removed unnecessary casts when using the line tool

Game

  • code cleanup of monk AI
  • fixed bug that prevented goop sticking to blasted blocks (Ali)
  • goop can now be thrown into the side of phase blocks that are fading in/out - this matches the Original (Ali)
  • fixed bug that allowed tiles that cannot be destroyed by Big Bombs to shelter objects that can't (Howie)
  • fixed bug that allowed a pick-axe to be used regardless if it could be used or not (Howie)
  • Flying Lode Runner updated to match the Original so that runners...
  • ... die when running into blastable/phase blocks (current state doesn't matter)
  • ... will stop when hitting liquid/trapdoor blocks
  • ... can now stand inside liquid/solid blocks when they are above another block
  • ... now have immunity from falling when inside solid blocks regardless if he should fall
  • ... can now go out of puzzle bounds
  • ... can use tools, be eaten, blast, teleport and be caught in traps

Thanks to Howie for helping sort out the "Flying Lode Runner" quirk. This quirk has by far taken the most amount of time and testing compared to the other support quirks.

General

  • FNA updated to 17.03
  • fixed broken audio toggles in the Options dialog (Howie)
  • removed unused parameters when creating world/environment animations
  • removed Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll library from macOS/Linux packages

Bugs being worked on

  • monks merging together when crossing on/off ladders

What I'll probably do next week

  • network gaming improvements
  • ability to 'pause' the game when testing and return after minor edits
  • monk hump 'n bump improvements